Water Wars

In water polo, it’s never a leisurely day at the pool. One of the first team sports of the modern Olympics, water polo still doesn’t garner the attention of baseball, basketball and football. But as fans will readily tell you, the sport is a beautifully underappreciated game, combining the stamina, strength and grace of America’s Big Three. Athletes leap out of the water to sling a shot on goal like an aquatic Clayton Kershaw and they pursue the ball with the tenacity of Dennis Rodman on the trail of a rebound. Below the water? A whole different story. Water polo’s culture of grit, toughness — and, sometimes, downright under-the-water brutality — rivals football in physicality. Players’ Tribune photographer Robert Beck was poolside last weekend for the 2015 Kap7 SoCal Invitational, one of the country’s biggest collegiate tournaments.